School Performance Registration
Dear Jazz Educator,
We are excited to announce our 39th annual jazz festival, entering its third year as the Butch Miles Jazz Festival! Those of you that attended the last two BMJF were treated to a fantastic concerts full of special guests that all paid tribute to Butch. Butch Miles was a huge part in shaping Texas State jazz in his 14 years as jazz drum set instructor, and his legacy with the Count Basie Orchestra, Mel Torme, Dave Brubeck, and countless others is something we want to preserve and keep in the minds of the next generations of jazz musicians. We hope you’ll be able to join us as we continue to celebrate Butch and continue the long-standing tradition of Texas State jazz!
This year’s festival will be held on Saturday, February 6th, 2027 on the beautiful Texas State University campus. In addition to our excellent facilities, including a just-completed renovation to Evans Auditorium, our outstanding adjudicators, clinicians, and performers promise to make this a memorable experience. As a non-competitive event, The Hill Country Jazz Festival does not select winners but does recognize exemplary big bands, combos, and individual instrumentalists with “Outstanding Performance Awards.” We have also added the Butch Miles Outstanding Jazz Musician Award for the top overall performer.
We are excited to announce that this year’s guest artist(s) will be drummer Tommy Igoe and trumpeter Bijon Watson! Tommy Igoe's career took off in 1986 when he became active in the New York recording scene, and joined the band, Blood, Sweat and Tears as their touring drummer. He quickly moved on to other great artists like The New York Voices, Stanley Jordan, Art Garfunkel and Dave Grusin. In 1997 he was asked to help create the drum set book for The Lion King on Broadway. Tommy has played drums on three Grammy award winning recordings and was voted the World’s #1 Jazz Drummer in the 2014 Modern Drummer Reader’s Poll. He has created two ongoing weekly musical residencies at iconic Jazz clubs in New York and San Francisco, The Birdland Big Band and Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy. In 2004 Tommy put out the popular drum book, Groove Essentials, and shortly thereafter the DVD Great Hands for a Lifetime. Bijon Watson plays lead trumpet for the Grammy-nominated Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Grammy-winning bands John Daversa Progressive Big Band and John Beasley’s Monkestra, the Gerald Wilson Jazz Orchestra. In 2022 he co-lead the Grammy Award-winning Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra. His recording, live performance, and touring short list includes artists such as Natalie Cole, Michael Bublé, Justin Timberlake, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Queen Latifah, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Nicholas Payton, Jamiroquai, Prince, Nancy Wilson, Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan, and Gladys Knight. His film credits include appearing in the film “La La Land” and recording on several soundtracks including “Epic”, “Despicable Me 2”, and “The Secret Life of Pets”.
Bands will perform throughout the day on Saturday, February 6th in Evans Auditorium and the Performing Arts Center. At 5 p.m., there will be an hour-long clinic presented by Bijon Watson. Immediately following the clinic, the Jazz Ensemble will take the stage at Evans Auditorium.
This year we continue to offer an online registration and payment option! The link to do so is https://secure.touchnet.com/C24322_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=3669&SINGLESTORE=true and we will have it linked from our website as well (www.txst.edu/jazzstudies/butchmilesjazzfestival/butchmilesjazzfestival-school-registration.html). This should make it easier for many schools to control their registration and payment. For those schools wishing to still do paper registration and checks, the registration form is attached! Jazz ensembles wishing to participate in the Hill Country Jazz Festival should complete the registration and fee of $200 by January 16th.
In addition to the above activities, an all-star big band will play a free concert on Friday, February 5th, at 7:30 p.m. in Evans Auditorium as part of our Eddie Durham Celebration. The band will feature Count Basie Orchestra tenor saxophonist Doug Lawrence, former Frank Sinatra saxophonist Mike Smith, members of the Texas State jazz faculty, and Texas State alumni. The evening will also include a talk by Director of the National Jazz Museum Loren Schoenberg. We hope you can attend both events, but all school performances are only on Saturday, February 6th.
I look forward to your participation!
Dr. Utah Hamrick
Director of Jazz Studies
Instructor of Jazz Bass
Texas State University
Board of Directors, Texas Jazz Educators Association
2027 Hill Country Jazz Festival Application Form
Name of Ensemble: _____________________________________________________________
School Represented: ____________________________________________________________
Director: ______________________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________________
City: _____________________________ State: ______ Zip:__________________
Phone: ____________________ Email: ________________________________
Number of Musicians: _________________
____________________________________
Print or Type Name of Director
____________________________________
Signature
Please include the non-refundable application fee of $200. This application and fee must be received by January 16. Directors will be notified of performance time by January 28.
Make checks payable to “Texas State University – Jazz” and mail to:
Dr. Utah Hamrick
School of Music
Texas State University
601 University Dr.
San Marcos, TX 78666